NEIGHBOURS in West Molesey are rallying together to curb increasing nuisance behaviour of some youths.

Residents of the Hurst Park estate, armed with cameras, are photographing and recording offences whenever they see them taking place and have already gathered evidence to pass on to the police.

The new year saw a fresh spate of crime along the Thames in East and West Molesey. The recycling bins at the Sadlers Ride car park, a favourite for vandals, were once again targeted on New Year’s Day.

One youth, wearing a hooded top, was seen and photographed setting fire to a pile of newspapers, close to where the entire paper bank had been torched last month.

A Hurst Park resident, who did not want to be named, sent out a warning to the offenders.

“There is a very resourceful group of people who are out there with cameras and who are actually having success in stopping them,” he said.

“Obviously we won’t be able to catch them every time, but the tide will be turning and we will be having periodic successes from now on.

“Molesey is a nice area to live in and we are not going to let a minority of mindless anti-social hooligans spoil it for the majority of decent people.”

On Monday evening, also at Hurst Park, residents of Thames Court were asked to open the security door of their block of flats by two young people pretending to be former beat officer PC Steve Muncaster.

Further along the Thames, Molesey Boat Club was raided later that evening. The padlock fitting on one of the club’s boat bays was broken to gain entry.

Inside the building, the drinks machine was vandalised and the front of it badly dented. The back of the machine ripped away but the cash box had not been reached.

Two of the bay doors of the club were daubed with graffiti. Club secretary Ted Bates said no fingerprints were found by forensic officers. This was the second attack on the club in three months. On Guy Fawkes’ Night, a firework was thrown through the letterbox and set alight, thankfully only causing a little damage.

Molesey’s Police and Community Support Officer (PCSO) Danny Bond said that he was aware of the problems. He regularly patrols the Sadlers Ride area at night, which he insisted did not suffer from a major youth crime problem.

“It’s probably a lot better than most other areas in the borough,” he said. “These incidents have happened before, but not necessarily on a daily basis or even on a weekly basis. It’s obviously a cause for concern for residents.

“We need help from the public. They are the ones who see these things first hand. He added: “To say there’s a junior crime wave might be an exaggeration.”